Chapter 3

Frustration was probably the watchword of the day for Jean Alesi and the Lotus Fan Force United team.  It must be said that the on-track results in no way corresponds to the talent and dedication of the man behind the wheel, the men with the wrenches, and the men with the computers.  Every moment of this day was spent in pursuit of that which proved to be elusive.  The mistress of speed, on this day, was immune to every overture. 

So yes, frustration.  Essentially, nothing went right.  An occurrence early in the day should have served as an omen that a difficult day was in the offing.  Upon arriving in the team garage this morning, Jean went to change into his driving suit.  As he placed his shoes on the shelf in his locker, the shelf fell from its place and crashed to the floor.  Thankfully, tragedy was avoided and Jean was not hurt.  So while the highly sophisticated racecar has been perfectly prepared by the Fan Force team, relatively simple things like cabinetry and shelving are clearly not in our wheelhouse.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway went green today at noon.  Jean did not join in the fun immediately, as the team waited until 12:45pm to give Jean a shove down the pit lane to send him out on his multiple 2.5 mile journeys.  Jean ran 8 laps before returning to the pit.  There was no gain in speed.  That would not occur today.

Though additional speed did not present itself (Indy does not give itself over easily), more laps are always a good thing.  Running in traffic, Jean was able to get a feel for running in dirty air.  After the stint, chief engineer and race strategist, Mike Colliver, found himself particularly impressed with the way that Jean was taking care of his tires, as when handed the post-run report from the team’s tire guy, his comment was “that’s a happy set.”  So perhaps some things went right. 

On Jean’s next run, a theme emerged.  The theme was 203, as each lap consisted of speed in that range.  Naturally, nobody is happy with that.  On the bright side, Jean is learning to solve the mystery of Indy with each trip through one of the circuit’s often enigmatic corners.  Furthermore, we get to spend the day racing at Indianapolis, and even on a bad day, it doesn’t get much better than that. 

At 1:38pm, Jean again takes to the track, and is only able to post one lap at speed before having to return to the pit due to a yellow for debris on the course.  At 1:58, 2 more laps at 204 are posted before it is decided to return to the garage to regroup and work on a new game plan. 

The team returns to the pit and Jean gets the green at 4:23pm.  One lap is run.  It is again 203.  More was expected that time.  Much more.  Back to the garage!  One could say that there are some that are far removed from “happy” at this point.  Jean is not one of those.  Yes, he wants to improve, but he is unflappable.  He is a rock.  He’s been there, seeing and doing it all.  This is part of the game.

At 5:36pm, with hope springing eternal and the FP Journe Watches machine having made one final trip to the pit lane, Jean ventures on to the racing circuit under sunny, clear skies, dealing only with a gentle breeze blowing south to north.  The shadows covered the iconic main straight on which so many champions have received their glory and on which legends have entered into their immortality.  One who is a legend in his own right pounds down the front straight, hoping to make the changes stick.  The team is running a new gear stack, seeking data points for each gear as they attempt to piece together the data that is necessary to effectively compete.  It’s an uphill battle for sure.  Though the hoped-for and expected speed is not achieved, these do prove to be Jean’s quickest laps for the day.  This is not encouraging however, as he was only able to reach into the 205 range.

The machine has yet to catch up to the capabilities of its pilot. 

Tomorrow is another day.               

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